Table Of ContentPraise for Jenny Colgan
‘This funny, sweet story is Jenny Colgan at her absolute best’ Heat
‘She is very, very funny’
Express
‘A delicious comedy’
Red
‘Fast-paced, funny, poignant and well observed’
Daily Mail
‘Sweeter than a bag of jelly beans … had us eating up every page’
Cosmopolitan
‘A smart, funny story laced with irresistible charm’
Closer
‘Chick-lit with an ethical kick’
Mirror
‘A quirky tale of love, work and the meaning of life’
Company
‘A smart, witty love story’
Observer
‘Full of laugh-out-loud observations … utterly unputdownable’
Woman
‘A fabulously sweet concoction of warmth, wit and lip-smacking childhood
treats’
Candis
‘A chick-lit writer with a difference … never scared to try something
different, Colgan always pulls it off’
Image
‘A Colgan novel is like listening to your best pal, souped up on vino, spilling
the latest gossip – entertaining, dramatic and frequently hilarious’
Daily Record
‘An entertaining read’
Sunday Express
‘Part-chick lit, part-food porn … this is full on fun for foodies’
Bella
Also by Jenny Colgan
Amanda’s Wedding
Talking to Addison
Looking for Andrew McCarthy
Working Wonders
Do You Remember the First Time?
Where Have All the Boys Gone?
West End Girls
Operation Sunshine
Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend
The Good, the Bad and the Dumped
Meet Me at the Cupcake Café
Welcome to Rosie Hopkins’ Sweetshop of Dreams
Copyright
Published by Hachette Digital
ISBN: 978-1-4055-1468-2
All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the
public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or
dead, is purely coincidental.
Copyright © Jenny Colgan 2012
‘Baking your first cupcake’ piece, copyright © The Caked Crusader 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of the publisher.
Hachette Digital
Little, Brown Book Group
100 Victoria Embankment
London, EC4Y 0DY
www.hachette.co.uk
To anyone who still leaves a mince pie out for Santa
(and a carrot for the reindeer).
Contents
Praise for Jenny Colgan
Also by Jenny Colgan
Copyright
A Word From Jenny
Author’s Note
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Acknowledgements
Baking your First Cupcake by The Caked Crusader
A Word From Jenny
Chapter One
Welcome to Rosie Hopkins’ Sweetshop of Dreams
Meet Me at the Cupcake Café
West End Girls
Operation Sunshine
Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend
The Good, The Bad and the Dumped
A Word From Jenny
Hello! Even though Meet Me at the Cupcake Café was my thirteenth
novel, I found it was a harder one to leave behind than some of the others.
Maybe because it was the longest book I’d ever written, I really felt that I’d
grown fond of the characters. I found myself going into Christmas mode after
it came out – I love Christmas – and starting to make my Christmas cake and
some mince pies and thinking – I know this makes me sound totally
ridiculous, by the way – I wonder how Issy would do them? So I figured I’d
better just write them down. Plus, if you enjoy the recipes, it’s nice to have a
few together just for this time of year. We’ve also reprinted (so when you see
it, don’t think SWIZZ!), the Caked Crusader’s brilliant introductory guide to
baking cupcakes from the last book, in case you’re just starting out.
It’s weird, because although I like reading sequels, I’ve never written one
before. There are a couple of things I sometimes don’t like about them,
though, so I have tried to avoid paragraphs like: ‘Jane walked into the room.
“Hello, Jane!” said Peter. “How are you ever since you were abandoned in
that shipwreck and had to take part in human cannibalism then a dolphin
picked you up and gave you a ride home where you married your true love
who turned out not to be your brother after all?” “Fine,” said Jane.’
I have also tried to avoid the opposite, where you have to remember
everything yourself (come on, we’re all busy), like: ‘“This is worse than
Bermuda,” spat Jane, hurling her prosthetic leg across the room.’
So. Instead of having to shoehorn everyone in, here’s a quick rundown
(and also, welcome if you’re new!).
Issy Randall lost her job in an estate agency, and threw her redundancy
money into opening the Cupcake Café in Stoke Newington, which is a mixed,
villagey area of London (her grandad, Joe, had been a baker in Manchester
and she had always loved to bake and decided to turn it into a career).
She employed Pearl McGregor, who is bringing up Louis mostly single-
handedly, although his dad, Benjamin Kmbota, swings by from time to time;
and Caroline, who is in the process of divorcing her rich husband. And Issy
broke up from her estate agent boyfriend Graeme, who was horrible, and has
started dating Austin Tyler, the local bank manager, who is raising his
brother, Darny, after their parents died. Austin was offered a new job
overseas, but that got delayed – it’s now over a year since the last book, if that
makes sense. Well, anyway, Louis is four now, and in reception, Darny is
eleven and in his first year of secondary school, and Issy’s best friend Helena,
a nurse, has had a baby with her doctor boyfriend Ashok.
So hopefully we’re all up to speed!
With grateful thanks to BBC Books and Delia Smith for allowing me to
use her recipe. And another thanks to The Little Loaf for the recipe in Chapter
fifteen. For more recipes go to http://thelittleloaf.wordpress.com
Let us know at www.facebook.com/jennycolganbooks or @jennycolgan
on twitter if you try any of the recipes, and may I wish you the merriest of
Christmases.
Very warmest wishes,
Jenny
Author’s Note
All these recipes have been successfully tested by me, many repeatedly
and greedily. If you have time to do the Christmas cake a good four weeks in
advance, it really helps!
NB: altitude cookies are very, very sweet indeed at ground level.
